Pop Smoke‘s murder was one of the most senseless in Hip Hop history — but now, new details have emerged that suggest his killing was tied to another, more recent, murder of an L.A. rapper.
According to TMZ, Jaquan Murphy — who was originally arrested in connection to the Canarsie, Brooklyn rapper’s murder back in 2020, but subsequently cleared of the crime — is the brother of Javonnta Murphy, better known as Sirtanky.
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Sirtanky’s body was found on July 31, naked and stuffed into a barrel. At the time of the discovery, police were uncertain of the possible motive for his murder.
However, now that it’s been discovered that he’s the brother of Jaquan Murphy — who is currently awaiting trial in Los Angeles, CA, for an unrelated murder — the LAPD believes that Sirtanky’s murder may be a “revenge killing” for Pop Smoke.
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This theory, however, is only speculation, and the investigation is still in the early stages.
The body of Sirtanky was discovered on July 31 inside of a metal barrel that washed up on the shore of Malibu Lagoon State Beach, California.
Lt. Hugo Reynaga of the sheriff’s homicide bureau confirmed that the metal barrel first washed up on Malibu’s shores on Sunday (July 30). At the time, the maintenance worker who discovered the barrel didn’t open it, nor did he suspect anything out of the ordinary about it.
The 55-gallon container was subsequently discovered by a lifeguard in the Malibu lagoon on Monday (July 31). When the lifeguard brought it to shore, he opened the container to discover the body of the L.A. rapper. The lifeguard told the outlet that he opened the container because its weight was “suspicious” to him.
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When the barrel was opened, Sirtanky wasn’t in a state of decomposition; so there was some suggestion that the death had been fairly recent.
Police didn’t share any other details about the state of Murphy’s body, but they have confirmed that the case is an open homicide investigation due to the fact that he was discovered naked inside of the sealed barrel, thus confirming to the police that he died as a result of “foul play.”
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According to detectives, the barrel came from what they believe to be a printing company, and are trying to determine if there is a connection between the printing company and the manner of Sirtanky’s death.
